RocheBag

Anything can work at any level. The whole "don't confuse lower league players with exotic systems" thing is a myth.

I have not. But in my experience with FM, there is nothing you can do to get both wide men on the same flank at the same time. This is a big part of Chelsea's system, and the only way to replicate it in FM is to put them at AMC.

I understand how the match engine works re formation shape being defensive position. That's the reason I've been saying the 4-2-3-1 wide formation (with CMs and AMR/L) doesn't exist in real life, and no one should use it in FM, since FM12. However, my tactic defends nothing like the screenshot you've just shown, difference in instructions maybe. But my Hazard and Pedro press the fullbacks and then drop back into wide positions if the press doesn't work. There was another comment (not sure if it was you or not) about Hazard and Pedro only pressing a little in certain situations. This is absolutely false. The front three press all out all the time, and what I see from them at AMC is much more representative of what I've watched from Chelsea. I've watched every match we've played 3-4-3 at least twice, most of them four or five times. Putting them as inside forwards doesn't get them narrow enough. Watching our matches over and over, and looking at touch maps, Hazard and Pedro are extremely narrow, pop up on each other's side of the pitch to create overloads, and create from the middle of the pitch. I haven't been able to replicate this using inside forwards.

Pretty much.

Any AM role with roaming is going to have a lot of joy in the half space. The best role for Hazard is shadow striker to replicate him IRL.

They absolutely defend wide when placed at AMC. They close down agressively and then track back and wide a little just like real life. You're right about Kante and Matic, as I stated before I have them both on DM-S.

Because they added shadow striker.

This is a great post with lots of information, and no doubt a great tactic you have here. I don't think it's very representative of Conte's Chelsea however. We definitely don't play with three flat strikers, the wide mids definitely have to be defensive wingers, and the middle of the three centerbacks should be the one on cover. Fantastic system however based on what you've said.

I just got my hands on the game and fired up my Chelsea save. I've holidayed all the pre-season and such just to get to the good stuff. Not going to play this save long-term, just want to focus on getting this tactic right. This is how I've set it up: Luiz got injured in training, but Cahill suits the ball playing defender role well. Terry slots in. The wingbacks have the get further forward and cross from byline PIs, Hazard and Pedro have roam from position. Here's how our first match went, home to Stoke: Both their goals came from free kicks, headed in by Ryan Shawcross. Those were there only two shots on target the entire game, so I'm not worried about the defense at all. Costa also had three 1 on 1s that were counted as half chances for some reason, he missed all three. Realistically it should have been 4-0, not 3-2. Here's our average positions for the match. Compare this with the average positions for the 5-0 to Everton on Saturday: Pretty bang on there. The central defender doesn't really drop back deeper than the other two, even with the cover duty. Hazard also should be a bit further forward, and Costa maybe a bit more withdrawn. Other than that it looks great. Overall a very successful first match. The system feels and plays great. I'll keep playing and making small changes to see what happens.

They don't help out on the wings much though. They press very high up the pitch, but they don't track back all that much, Hazard especially.

As a Chelsea supporter, I'm fascinated with Conte's system, and I've watched every match since we've switched to it at least twice. Hazard and Pedro roles in terms of FM are absolutely AMC. Players in that position still get wide and work the channels plenty. Putting them at AMR and AML is not representative at all.

I can't speak to 17 because I haven't got it yet. But in every other version I've found pushing the wingbacks up to defensive winger in the ml/mr spots and asking them to man mark the opposition wingers makes them defend much better.

It's not realistic for any DOF, no matter how incompetent, to give the player more than he's asked for for no reason.

Interesting. I wonder what it was specifically that made FM16 so much slower than 14 for me.

Quick question about the overall speed of the game, I'll give you the situation. On FM14 I can blaze through seasons on my laptop, matchdays of about 5 matches take around 30 seconds to process. On FM16, it crawls. The same matchday of 5 games will take at least 5 minutes to process, and god help me if there are a lot of games in one day, like the early rounds of a cup. Not uncommon to be sitting there for 15-20 minutes. Where would you folks say FM17 falls in this respect? Faster than 14? Slower than 16? Somewhere in the middle? This will be the deciding factor on whether or not I buy the game. Thanks for any help!